tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1052423616384287462015-07-24T21:09:59.301-04:00Dubious ProspectsOccasional polemics and pictures.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.comBlogger853125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-29444520357658882852015-07-02T23:34:00.000-04:002015-07-02T23:34:23.960-04:00Getting some use out of Canada Day
Bicycle under the Aldershot GO station sign
Didn't make it to Aldershot; not been cycling enough, and too much headwind. But aside from the headwind and a squall or two that missed, a lovely day and not even too crowded.
I did realize that Appleby is right at the start of where the ride between Toronto and Hamilton gets pleasant again; no slight to Oakville, but the long trudge along Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-66093035935722782432015-06-20T22:37:00.001-04:002015-06-20T22:37:56.091-04:00A fondness for thistles
Blooming thistle
From a little patch of grass where the rail lines vault over Parkside drive. In a month or two, maybe goldfinches will be eating the seeds; for now, yes, invasive, yes, spiky, but also this vivid burst of purple I'm fond of seeing. And the goldfinches don't seem to mind the invasive.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-56365257330683415732015-06-14T09:03:00.001-04:002015-06-14T09:03:33.689-04:00Yesterday's best birdYesterday was the annual Carden Count, where bunches of people haul themselves up to the Carden Alvar for a 06h00 start time and go stand on designated points and spend five minutes counting all the birds they can see or hear.
This requires somebody comfortable with GPS devices, as well as someone who can ear-bird, so I still get to be useful.
A cloudy cool morning, dimmer than usual, and much Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-67345840962590988092015-05-31T00:01:00.000-04:002015-06-23T06:09:29.616-04:00Committing book againSo it's not April and it's not quite May, either, but I've committed book again.
Available on Google Play Books
Egalitarian heroic fantasy. Experimental magical pedagogy, non-Euclidean ancestry, and some sort of horror from beyond the world.
Available via Google Play Books. (Google Play Books suffering mitigation for ePub downloads.)
Also available on:
iBooks
Nook -- There's a "submitted"Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-55201217418943314982015-05-11T23:46:00.001-04:002015-05-11T23:46:24.401-04:00Pelee swallowsThe Marsh Boardwalk observation tower provides really excellent views of the nesting barn swallows.
Male barn swallow
Female barn swallow
I like how the female seems to be doing the maniraptoran second pedal claw thing. I doubt the tension rod is feeling all that threatened, but maybe something is.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-70651059213813360702015-04-30T06:06:00.001-04:002015-04-30T06:06:14.609-04:00A Succession of Bad Days, further progress update
So, not quite done yet --
send it out for critique by unfamiliar eyes -- DONE!
get an ISBN -- DONE!
get a cover -- DONE!
copyedit -- Pass 2 and final; at greater than 50% for the copy-editor
generate EPUB -- automated long since; even counting the manual zip step, requires < 30s
make available -- unfulfilled dependencies.
Various (mostly micro-) organisms have been trying to kill the Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-44097834443081482002015-04-03T15:38:00.002-04:002015-04-03T15:38:27.765-04:00A Succession of Bad Days progress updateSo, yes, I've entirely missed March. Whups.So, anyway --
send it out for critique by unfamiliar eyes -- DONE!
get an ISBN -- DONE!
get a cover -- Art Done, Design Pending
copyedit -- 1st Pass Done, Final Pass Pending
generate EPUB -- automated long since; even counting the manual zip step, requires < 30s
make available -- unfulfilled dependencies.
That all said -- is there a consensus as to Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-33581137375969136062015-02-22T21:41:00.001-05:002015-02-22T21:41:49.478-05:00Short-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl on a large snowy branch
The F900 does its valiant best, but there's purple fringing. (Backlight in a world of low cloud and snow. Of course there was purple fringing.) 100% crop; owl was close but not that close.
There were five; got excellent in-flight and perched views, from a variety of angles.
So yay!, lifer, and yay! OFO walk.
(Snow buntings. Diverse colour morphs Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-25092337360488036452015-02-19T13:58:00.003-05:002015-02-19T13:58:31.694-05:00Woot! Good review Thursday!I think James liked The March North; woohoo!
A Succession of Bad Days has been out for an unfamiliar critical read, and now another unfamiliar critical read (the people who one gets to bounce up and down and burble at about the gubbins of the world building are invaluable, but they're also not going to tell you where you've been incomprehensible quite the same way a new reader will), and ought Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-37130378679669864462015-01-24T13:14:00.004-05:002015-01-24T13:14:55.531-05:00HOWTO -- downloading an EPUB from Google Play Books
So a bunch of people have had trouble getting to the "Download EPUB" functionality with Google Play Books when trying to get their archive copy of The March North.
If you are logged in to Google with a Google Account other than the account that bought the book, log out. (Google gets confused about whose books to show you.)
Log in to Google with the Google Account that bought the book.
Navigate Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-36502275066104636122015-01-23T23:10:00.001-05:002015-01-23T23:10:14.340-05:00Next Commonweal book -- A Succession of Bad DaysSo it's about that time again.
I've got all of three written[1], people have read it, they have not informed me it is dire, dreadful, or despicable, so I can contemplate to publish Commonweal book two, aka A Succession of Bad Days. [2] Which means:
send it out for critique by unfamiliar eyes
get an ISBN
get a cover
copyedit
generate EPUB
make available
Currently at "it is out for critique".Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-31685254770143682642015-01-21T21:29:00.001-05:002015-01-21T21:29:10.250-05:00An infrequent cat
Black cat exploring fire sprinkler pipes
Aoife does not completely approve of the ceiling pipes; they're more of an obstacle course than a real pathway, and they're way high up and lack obvious endpoints.
She is, however, entirely a cat, so some exploring still occurs.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-71784247499081278732014-12-23T15:50:00.001-05:002014-12-23T15:50:50.071-05:00It's winter
Variety of large Larus gulls on the beach seawall
There's at least one Great Black-backed Gull on the beach seawall along Sir Casimir Gzowski Park.
The adults are pretty easy; the immatures produce a certain amount of "check the feet!" as a response; when the obviously smaller gulls have the pink legs and feet of herring gulls, well. That reduces the options for what the larger and generallyGraydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-76528122999834473592014-12-23T15:42:00.001-05:002014-12-23T15:44:23.536-05:00Intractable Swans
So when I first reported L07 and J06, the nice people who work on the trumpeter swan re-introduction emailed me back and asked if the third swan, the one with no wing tag, had a leg band. I didn't think so, but I hadn't taken a picture, so I couldn't be sure.
L07 Trumpeter Swan Cob, asleep on the beach
Unknown trumpeter swan asleep on the beach
And I am no more sure today, after Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-75758689442127193212014-12-21T13:52:00.001-05:002014-12-23T15:43:52.865-05:00Inherently elegant creatures, swans
Preening cob trumpeter swan J06
There's a group of trumpeter swans on the Toronto Waterfront this winter; mute swans are regular, but it's nice to see Trumpeters getting re-established enough to be present. (Trumpeters are, after all, the native swan species.) And I do suppose winter makes taking one's preening very seriously an important thing to do.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-90506925158516345642014-11-22T17:15:00.001-05:002014-11-22T17:15:08.961-05:00Photographic failureSo far this month, there's been a Merlin in a tree, Red-bellied Woodpecker, two, side-by-each, Red-tailed Hawks -- it's a very popular tree -- and, in a different tree, the winter's first Northern Shrike. There's been some impressive leaves, too, back at the start of the month. Swans have gone over, way high up; so have Sandhill cranes, not quite so far up.
Flying by there have been Red-Tails,Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-23466275700070501872014-10-27T17:06:00.002-04:002014-10-27T17:06:58.607-04:00"And Thick on Severn Snow the Leaves"It's early fall. There are still green leaves, but not very many, and people keep guessing wrong about how much jacket they need.
South towards Lake Ontario's condo tower fringe
There are ducks in this picture. Only two, and mallards, so you're not missing much if you can't find them. Neither the bufflehead nor the widgeon nor the shovellers turned out well, picture-wise, and all three are Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-45985094749379458302014-10-06T00:05:00.000-04:002014-10-06T00:05:14.604-04:00A peregrine in a treeThe peregrine was on the Toronto Islands, and a surprise; one does not often see them perched in trees. The angle of the light was nearly straight up-sun but you can at least identify the bird.
Adult Peregrine Falcon perched in a tree
And since peregrines were sometimes known as "duck hawks", have some ducks from the Toronto waterfront off Sir Casimir Gzowski park.
Pair of Gadwall preening
Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-60079181677660062642014-09-20T17:45:00.000-04:002014-09-20T17:45:17.177-04:00Flocking might be too strong
Adult Great Blue Heron
There were five in the marsh at the mouth of the Rouge; two adults and three immature. Definite sign that the summer is coming to an end, beyond silly things like the temperature shift and the earlier and earlier hours of evening as the equinox creeps up.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-33982771481965109402014-09-18T22:42:00.001-04:002014-09-18T22:42:03.293-04:00The End of the Summer
Flowering purple plant along Chesterton Shores
There are maple trees starting to turn, sheltered ones down by the lake. There's a lot of flowers flowering away, and a few bees, and a few more butterflies, and clouds of some kind of insect, but the mallards are practising having their wings working again and the Canada Geese do have their wings working again. It's not actually even cool yet Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-48527598632185795742014-09-14T17:54:00.000-04:002014-09-14T17:54:20.746-04:00Accidental birds
Northern Shoveller drake in eclipse plumage
Not much along Chesterton Shores; gulls, Canada geese, turkey vulture. The swallows are all flown, the blue jays ruckusing somewhere else, and the clouds were coming in.
The marsh attending on the mouth of the Rouge, though; Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Blue-winged Teal, the inevitable Mallards mallarding about, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Northern Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-46346096924802586752014-09-14T17:44:00.002-04:002014-09-14T17:44:43.492-04:00"Dull pink in all plummages"
Adult Herring Gull still in alternate plumage with two late cormorants
Dunno about you, but I'm having trouble with the "dull" modifying the "pink" when it comes to those feet.
Also, that's a pretty good illustration that Herring Gulls are honking big; it looks larger than the double-crested cormorant. (They're not; Herring Gulls mass 800-1200 grammes, where Double-crested Cormorant masses Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-39541141924060491882014-09-11T18:21:00.000-04:002014-09-11T18:21:03.778-04:00Anybody recognize this bird?
The Windermere Basin in Hamilton is not a place I usually get. But I am extremely fortunate in my birding friends.
I was not fortunate in the weather; the wind was blowing straight at us above 50 kph, so using a scope without one's eyes watering unto uselessness was challenging. So was attempting to digiscope by holding a camera up to the eyepiece, but I almost managed.
100 percent crop of Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-31111742203673139442014-08-31T15:28:00.002-04:002014-08-31T15:28:31.399-04:00Complicated Sky
Horizontal rainbows
It's not often I see these, but the 24th was a very complicated sky.Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105242361638428746.post-49140741228494767572014-08-31T15:26:00.003-04:002014-08-31T15:26:38.910-04:00Nighthawks
So I've been going out to the Bird Studies Canada High Park Nighthawk count (18h00 - 20h30, nightly, until 6 September 2014 on Hawk Hill in High Park in Toronto). Nighthawk numbers have been variable, but one gets reliable as distinguishing the distant nighthawk from the distant chimney swift and the sneaking ring-billed gull.
I have neither the skill nor the equipment to get good pictures Graydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09839374676813519438noreply@blogger.com0